Keynote Speaker 2017

Myrlie Evers-Williams is a civil rights activist and former chairperson of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) (1995-1998). The first female to
chair the nation's oldest civil rights organization, she lifted the NAACP out of turmoil at a time
when its debt amounted to $4 million and its image suffered from a scandal involving former
executive director Benjamin Chavis’s use of funds to ward off a sexual harassment lawsuit. Her
frankness and optimism represented a new beginning for the organization.